England Side Living Dangerously

So Many Scares as Six Nations Hopefuls Look to Finish With a Grand Slam

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England fly-half Toby Flood is tackled by Gonzalo Canale of Italy during this past Sunday's Six Nations match at Twickenham.
European Pressphoto Agency

By

Joshua Robinson

March 13, 2013 4:12 p.m. ET

With England minutes away from securing its fourth straight victory in this year's Six Nations on Sunday, some 80,000 rugby fans at Twickenham fell very quiet. The Italy side they would come to see trounced was fighting back. The England side they had wanted to celebrate, with its dreams of a first Grand Slam in a decade, was on the ropes.

Only a late defensive stand by the home side stopped Italy from converting its possession inside 22 meters into a game-tying try. England hung on for the 18-11 victory, but the celebrations were muted. The players' thoughts were already turning to this Saturday's Six Nations decider against Wales in Cardiff.

"It's a pretty quiet changing room because we know that we need to do better," England head coach Stuart Lancaster said after the game. His assistant, Graham Rowntree, went even further and said that the side had "survived a scare."

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Scots tackle Sam Warburton of Wales
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Wales, of course, was watching. With its 3-1 record in the Six Nations, the defending champion could retain the title with a victory by at least eight points. The points differential, which England currently leads by 14 points, is the first tiebreaker. The next tiebreaker is the try count, where Wales has a two-try advantage that is unlikely to swing back in England's favor—Wales hasn't conceded a try since the Ireland game in its Six Nations opener.

So that leaves England in the awkward, unsatisfying position of being able to lose the match on Saturday and still win the Six Nations trophy.

If it ended up that way, it would certainly feel familiar: England found itself in the same position just two years ago when the Grand Slam slipped away on the final day against Ireland and it managed to claim the Six Nations title after Wales lost in Paris.

What it comes down to is that there wasn't actually a lot to be gained from the Italy game for England since Wales had already beaten Scotland 28-18 on Saturday to set up this weekend's showdown. Only a blowout for England would have sent the team to Cardiff with at least the championship secured.

"Once Italy found that they were in the game, they sort of grew an extra arm and an extra leg, found that confidence and made it hard for England," Wales assistant coach Robin McBryde told reporters this week.

"Perhaps their minds were on other things."

England certainly played that way in the second half, when Italy had 65% of the possession and 72% of the territory.

"I think we got a little bit carried away to be honest," England Number Eight Tom Wood said. "We had a lot of possession early on, we made breaks. And when the space opened up in front of us, we got a bit overeager and we didn't hold correct depth. People queuing up to carry the ball, but almost getting in each other's way."

And pretty soon, they were running into Italians, too.

The visitors' defense delivered early pressure from every breakdown and efficiently frustrated the English attack, holding it to six penalties.

"I can't remember having the ball in the second half to be honest," Wood said. "They threw a lot of weight and numbers at us."

Only a perfect kicking performance by fly-half Toby Flood, who nailed all six of his attempts, kept England in control. "It's disappointing not to have kicked on and not to have scored a couple of tries, because we certainly had the opportunities to," Flood said.

Much like the game against France at Twickenham on Feb. 23, it left the impression that while England could dig out victories, it isn't dominating opponents in the way that Grand Slam winners are supposed to do.

Two weeks ago, despite the 23-13 scoreline, England's mediocre tackling came in for some close scrutiny after its defense was carved apart by the individual brilliance of Wesley Fofana at Twickenham—his more than 50-yard solo run for a try remains one of the highlights of this year's Six Nations.

Last week, Italy also outran England with the ball by 46 meters.

"It wasn't nice sitting on the bench watching them attack our line," said prop Mako Vunipola, who was substituted in the latter stages of the Italy game. "There's a lot to work on for next week....It kind of feels like we lost the game."

As if the Six Nations and a potential Grand Slam didn't raise the stakes enough, there will be individual intrigue as well as key players on both sides make their cases to be included in this summer's British and Irish Lions squad. Lions coach Warren Gatland—who took a leave from his job as Wales coach to lead the touring side—said this week he was undecided for as much as a third of the 37 spots in the squad.

And front and center of the discussion this weekend will be the battle between England captain Chris Robshaw and Wales's Sam Warburton, who are both hoping to catch Gatland's eye for the Lions' captaincy. (Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll could also be in the mix as his side finishes a mediocre campaign in Italy.)

But whichever one is lifting the Six Nations trophy in Cardiff on Saturday evening could become the instant favorite.

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